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CHAPTER II. 



THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY" AND GEOLOGY OF MADAGASCAR. 



ELEVATEB GRANITIC REGION — SCENERY — RIVERS AND LAKES — LOWER REGION 

 AND MARITIME PLAINS — MOUNTAINS — BELT OF FOREST — VOLCANIC DIS- 

 TURBANCES — GEOLOGY OF THE CHIEF DIVISIONS — SECONDARY FOSSILS — 

 RECENTLY EXTINCT FAUNA — LIGNITE FORMATION — CORAL REEFS — METALS 

 AND MINERALS — FERTILITY OF SOIL. 



Although Madagascar is known to be the third largest island 

 in the world, its actual size and extent is not very generally 

 understood. And it is easy to see how misconception on this 

 point arises, for in maps the island is usually seen only in 

 connection with Africa, and that continent is of such immense 

 extent that it dwarfs by comparison with itself everything in 

 its near neighbourhood ; so that the really large island shel- 

 tering under its south-eastern side appears but an incon- 

 siderable appendage to its vast neighbour. If, however, we 

 take a good-sized map of Madagascar, and put by its side 

 the outline, to the same scale, of another country with whose 

 dimensions we are familiar — such, for instance, as England — 

 we begin to realise how important an island it is as regards 

 ^ size, being nearly looo miles long* by about 2 50 in average 



breadth, and reaching to 350 miles at its widest part. It 

 has, therefore, an area of about 230,000 square miles, so that 

 it is nearly four times as large as England and Wales. 



During the last ten years much light has been thrown 

 upon the physical geography of Madagascar, principally 

 through the researches of M. Alfred Grandidier, and the 

 numerous exploratory journeys made in various parts of the 

 country by missionaries aild others. Until a very recent 

 period there was no reliable map of the island, and the 

 physical geography was completely misunderstood. But it is 



* More exactly, 975 miles. 



